HARTS/C/29MAR99/NF/HO--Caryl Hart and Mickey Hart. Benefit concert in April to save Bohemia Ranch a scenic 960 acre site in western Sonoma County. CAT Datebook#Datebook#Chronicle#11/9/2004#ALL#Advance##422014902

What is the artist's role in society? Artists have been debating the question throughout history.

In the days since last week's presidential election, Bay Area artists have pondered not just their social responsibilities -- they've also thought about how their work may be affected by the political and social climate over the next several years. Here's the second part of our report on their views:

The former U.S. poet laureate said he thought about the election results all day -- "when I could think."

"The question of how the rest of us should behave seems pressing," he said. "Erosion of civil liberties? The courts? Further and deeper predations on the environment? It's hard to see how the Endangered Species Act will survive, except perhaps in name. An interesting indicator of the intentions of that Bush clique will be to see whether they punish Republican dissenters like Richard Lugar. If they go after moderate Republicans first, watch out.".

Kaufman is the author of "Jew Boy," a memoir of growing up in the Bronx the son of a Holocaust survivor. He is also the editor of "The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry" and a teacher of creative writing.

"On the day of the election the publishers Little, Brown and Company bought my new novel, 'Matches,' which is about Israeli soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip. The timing is propitious," he said. "The fighting in the Middle East, whether the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the war in Iraq, is the single-most important issue facing this country, as well as the rest of the world, and whether one stands pro or con on these struggles, one thing is certain: War is, for the immediate future, our national and global reality. How, then, living with aggression, can American democracy and democracies everywhere defend themselves and at the same time preserve their democratic ideals and institutions? Hopefully, 'Matches' will contribute to this difficult but necessary dialogue.".

Franti, the leader of Spearhead, spent last summer in the Middle East with a film crew, hoping to get a first-hand account of the effects of war in Iraq, Jordan and Israel. On Sept. 11, he also hosted his annual Power to the Peaceful festival in front of roughly 50,000 people. The election results are unlikely to dampen his activities.

"For those of us opposing the war, our work was not going to stop no matter who got elected," he said. "I am someone who believes we don't just vote Nov. 2. We vote 365 days a year with our words, our actions and where we spend our money."

But Franti is concerned about the global implications of another Bush term.

"When Bush was elected the first time, people around the world said to me, 'We don't like Bush, but we know that the American government is not the same as the American people,' " he said. "I fear that with Bush elected the second time around, those who were angry with the administration will no longer give the American people the benefit of the doubt.".

SAM GREEN, filmmaker

Green, whose documentary "The Weather Underground" was a 2004 Academy Award nominee, believes the election results will mean less public funding for the arts.

"I've always felt that government support for the arts was going to dwindle, and it was important to find ways to work without it. Bush's re- election accelerates the timetable," he said.

"Right now, I'm doing two projects -- a short film about the activists who broke into an FBI office in 1971, stole documents and leaked them to the press, which is how the public learned about COINTELPRO. I knew if Bush got re- elected, it would take on a real urgency and an almost metaphorical relevance. The day after the election, when I was watching the concession and victory speech, I thought, 'I've got to turn off the TV and get going on this!' The other project is a longer film, a more experimental documentary about the utopian impulse and human nature. That also feels really relevant to me.

"It seems clear in so many ways that Bush is a disaster for this country. He has taken us into a disastrous war, spending billions of dollars. There's the war, the tax cut, the environment, the deficit -- out of that will come a lot of creativity and art and activism. Bush getting re-elected is horrible in so many ways, but I do think that four more years of Bush will produce some good art.".

Wilson is editorial director of artsandmedia.net and program director of "Expo for the Artist & Musician" -- a D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) teach-in, Nov. 18. He says the election adds even more reason for artists to gather at the forthcoming Expo.

"In planning this event back in September, we knew that folks who are political, and who might object to the Iraq war, would have something to protest no matter who won the presidential election," he said.

"There won't be much change in the commerce-focused music and film communities, (but) people will still need help in promoting and publishing their work."

It will be more important than ever for artists to be self-reliant, he said.

"The D.I.Y. movement flourished with the rise of punk rock and became a credo in the '80s and '90s," Wilson said. "It's by definition reformist and utopian. People who aren't necessarily political find themselves in a position of having to be so, simply to get their work out.".

"We're still in a state of shock," she said. "We have our "Dump Bush and Cheney" sign in the window, which Lawrence [Ferlinghetti] painted himself. We're looking forward to impeachment or perhaps, indictments for war crimes.".

Vale, the editor and publisher of Re/Search Books, says it's already difficult for alternative publishing to survive, and things don't look better in the immediate future.

"The Bush team's Homeland Security Act has already affected our independent counterculture publishing," he said. "We air-mailed a book to a Canadian customer 10 days ago and it still hasn't cleared customs! Canadian customs is now totally jammed -- funny, this has received no news coverage. In the pre-Bush era, this book would have arrived at its destination in four days.

"The Christian crusader Bush's re-election may inspire artists to work harder and join forces more expeditiously to fight the right-wing menace to America (and the world). Here, Picasso furnishes a great role model, although he ended up moving to another country. Some artists are working against a root cause of war itself: monotheism -- especially the kind that craves Armageddon. Maybe it's time to revive the cry of the French Revolution: "Neither god nor master!" Abolishing all monotheisms could remove a major cause of international warfare!".

"The Bush re-election will certainly affect my satirical work, if I can find any -- the satire thing, frankly, is not the cash cow I hoped it would be," Kessler said. "Though I strive to be bipartisan in my sarcasm, it grows increasingly difficult, since there is no left-right now to mock. Oh, sure, there are Als -- Franken and Sharpton (et al) -- but what's the point of going after them? The right has pretty much sucked all the air out of the room. The strategy? A very effective one: Ignore and marginalize. Latte liberal, anybody? As if Republicans don't eat brie!

"I don't know exactly what I'm going to do over the next four years -- or where there is left to do it, really, the venues for invective not being what they once were -- but I will vent where I can, on my Web site [ianshoales.com] and blog [dbmt.blogspot.com] and elsewhere, exposing the neo-right as the scum-sucking dogs they are. Oh, did I say that out loud? I meant exposing them as the sincere but misguided ideologues they are.

My pledge to America: I promise to use the word "indeed" sparingly; I promise to drive the term "value voter" out of public discourse. It sounds like something you'd buy at Costco; I promise to do my best to change the terms "red" and "blue" to "stupid" and "not quite as stupid;" I will mud- wrestle Ann Coulter, anytime, anywhere! I will attempt to cause the first gay divorce. Just hedging my bets.".

The Grateful Dead drummer stood in parking lots before Dead shows this summer and shook hands with newly registered voters. Hart is a member of the board of directors of the Library of Congress and was instrumental in getting his band to back the Kerry campaign. He told his daughter not to fear Republican death squads ("They won't kill you in your sleep -- that's the good side of America").

"I'm numb," he said. "I've been going to the drums. I've been drumming all day long. I've been remembering that I'm a musician, not a politician. You have to go to the sound. The sound is our only hope. It's my sword. This means a rededication for me personally to the deep, deep spirit of the sound.

"What about the power of rock 'n' roll? What do you think Bruce Springsteen thinks? If they're going to kill people in their sleep, they're going to start with Bruce Springsteen.".

WILL DURST,

political humorist

The nationally noted San Francisco stand-up satirist has been making barbed jokes about politicians and people of all persuasions since the trickle- down days of the Reagan administration. He suggested former President Bill Clinton take a post teaching "Situational Ethics" after leaving the White House, and said San Franciscans were clearly "out of goose step with the rest of the state" when they voted against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Although he wanted Kerry, Durst concedes that the re-election of Bush, whom he thinks of as the love child of Ronald Reagan and Dan Quayle, "is a cornucopia of riches for me. Every time I have to deal with a new administration it's like turning the Titanic: It takes me about three months to get up to speed. Now I'm going to hit the ground running, full of bile.".

An El Paso, Texas, native who settled in San Francisco in 1989, Solis is known for the lyricism and dark comedy of his plays -- "Santos & Santos," "El Paso Blue" and "Bethlehem" -- which often deal with Latino characters wrestling with identity, power and violence along the culturally amorphous Mexican-American border.

Solis, who'd felt a groundswell of support for Kerry, was depressed and disheartened by Bush's victory. "I have to absorb it," he said. "I do feel the world is a little bleaker. I don't want to say I'm losing hope, but I feel that something is at its twilight. My plays have always been dark, but there's almost always been some message of hope. I think my plays will be darker to reflect the general atmosphere, the tone of the times. I think my work is also going to get angrier, although not directed in a partisan way. We're in a very precarious position now. Bush seems to be saying, 'People like where I'm going. ' We're a more isolated place in the world now, and it's a more dangerous world."

Because he grew up in Texas, Solis thought he understood the way people in the South and Middle America thought. He was wrong. "It's completely baffling," says..

A veteran of bands led by Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard and many others, as well as leading his own ensembles, Marshall is passionate about teaching children and making beautiful music. That won't change, regardless of who's in the White House. For Marshall, as Kerry said about Bush during the campaign, it's four more years of the same.

"It wasn't a big surprise to me that Bush won," Marshall said. "We live in a different world now. The nation is so divided. The same people we were criticizing four and five years ago are ruling now. It doesn't affect my music at all. We'll have to see what happens, but the nation isn't going to die because Bush was re-elected. You try to live your life and make the best of it. ".

CLINTON FEIN, artist

Fein, a South African native who became a U.S. citizen a decade ago, is known for his politically provocative and sometimes shocking installations and digitally manipulated photographs. Images of Bush and Hitler appear in one recent work, while another prints the phrase "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" across a grid of photographs depicting Iraqi war casualties.

"I'm devastated that Bush was re-elected," he said. "But the reality is he was fairly elected, and Americans have spoken, even though I very much dislike what they've done. It's just unfortunate that they've chosen to ignore such blatant evidence of his deceit, of his mismanagement and his inability to treat people fairly. I'm a First Amendment advocate, and for me the red flags are very high right now. More than ever people are going to have to be very vigilant about protecting those rights.

"From the Clinton administration to now, my art has always pushed buttons, and I have no doubt it will continue to do that. I tend to respond to what's happening in the cultural landscape around us, and invariably what I have to say upsets people. That's not going to change.".

The Nov. 17-18 concerts by the Paul Dresher Ensemble at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts include "Plays with Others," a new Paul Rolnick piece about Bush's foreign policy style. Dresher, the noted Bay Area composer, describes the work as a metaphor, drawn from early childhood education, about someone who needs to make all the rules.

"We knew when we programmed it in September," he said, "that it would either be a happy goodbye or a dirge. It does have a funny if painful edge. I know that the impact of tragedy is often best made through comedy and humor. As artists, we're obliged to look for levity in dead seriousness."

Of Bush's re-election, Dresher observed, "It's part of a whole cultural turn away from self-criticism, introspection and social equality. Yes, he's a man incurious about anything 'other' in the world. But I don't really blame George Bush for that. He's just representative of this whole renaissance of corporate capitalism.".

MICHELLE CARTER,

playwright

The San Francisco author of "Ted Kaczynski Killed People With Bombs" and "Hillary and Soon-Yi Shop for Ties" mused on "sentimental imagery that obliterates truth. The Republicans are right about that: Imagery can motivate voters. Now we've got to find our images that speak to people.".

Jenkins' recent "Danger Orange," staged outdoors at Justin Herman Plaza, was provoked by the color-coded terrorist alerts. She checked in from the University of Maryland, where she was attending a Center for Creative Research conference.

"The hardest task, I think, is to not mourn and to think of ways to organize. I did ask myself, in the days after the election, if artists should stop doing what they do and take to the streets and what that would mean."

Jenkins sees Bush's re-election as an expression of the fact that "people really are terrified of chaos and want certainty. For artists, uncertainty and ambiguity are the tools of the trade. That's where we live. From chaos comes action and the work. This makes me look more carefully, with some understanding and sympathy but also concern, about how much of a desire there is for certainty and how that can create a climate of fear.".

The "Dr. Loco" of Dr. Loco Rockin' Jalapeno Band is also a professor of Raza studies at San Francisco State University.

"I am so depressed." he said. "I think it's going to have a chilling effect on certain art projects that depend on federal funds. Things may now be reviewed with a more ideological framework that represents the new values orientation."

Cuellar recalled that affirmative action made great strides during the Nixon era. "He wanted to get a toe hold in those communities and make connections. I don't see that happening under Bush. I'm afraid we'll see support for faith-based organizations and not for artists and organizations of diversity.".

Gavin's Brava Theater Center mounted "Laura's Bush," a scabrous political satire, last month in San Francisco's Mission District. She hopes to present a Guantanamo docudrama, a new solo show by the performance artist Reno and other works that respond to the Bush II times.

"I have not turned on the TV since I turned it off around 1 o'clock in the morning last Wednesday," said Gavin. "My friends have been going out to hear some music or see a play. Just plugging into the mass media is so disheartening. I do think this is going to drive us into live experiences with each other.

"So many of us feel this is fascism in development. We have a leader in this country who is very good at demonizing people and stirring up a sense of fear and frenzy. This right-wing, reactionary heartland isn't something to reason with. It's just dangerous. The theater is our church. We need to go back there. I will be looking for pieces that don't pussyfoot around anymore. The only alternative is to build a movement of our own.".

CLEMENT RENZI, sculptor

The Fresno artist interrupted a home plumbing chore to take a reporter's call. After 44 years of making art, he said, he wasn't about to start mingling it with politics now.

"It (Bush's re-election) won't affect my work, unless we have a total social breakdown. I lament the direction of most political art. I don't fear for my livelihood unless the whole country gets crippled."

As for Bush, Renzi said, "I don't have a positive thing to say about him. I don't believe a word he says. But I have a greater fear for Cheney than I do for W. He's the silent puppeteer.".

As director of the Other Minds music festival, Amirkhanian was feeling a pronounced Bush/Kerry effect well before the election. Individual contributions to his cutting-edge organization were down 25 to 40 percent, he said -- "with the uniform excuse that peopled needed to support Kerry with their money.

"Now we're facing the demoralization of the entire donor base. As an experimental arts organization, we tend to get most of our support from the more liberal side."

As for the election, Amirkhanian said, "I think it's a loss of our critical thinking and an ability to act in our own interests. Karl Rove and his propaganda machine have proven that he can turn any positive he dislikes into a frightening negative. And he does it so transparently that the public is genuinely fooled. But we're not a homogeneous culture. The hope is that people will recognize in the arts, in the complicated and subtle expressions in music, literature or art, that people can come together in nonthreatening ways.".

PAMELA Z, singer

In her San Francisco and New York performance art circles, said Z, people are talking about moving to France or New Zealand -- or maybe to Nebraska to run for office.

"We tend to take our friends and associates and their ideas for granted. At times like this, I realize there's this whole other part of the world. I mean, of course you know that objectively. This just makes it so specific. I've been talking to a lot of friends who feel more energized and want to take more action. Myself, I feel a little helpless. I'm not really sure about changing people and the world.".

TIMOTHY NEAR,

artistic director

"I haven't even thought about what to do yet," said Near, artistic director of the San Jose Repertory Theatre. "I'm feeling very concerned and scared, not so much for myself but for the country and the world. I'm thinking about a niece I have, who is going to become a woman in five years or so, and how this may affect her. I'm thinking about my nephews of draftable age. Many people said our lives changed permanently after 9/11. I feel our lives are changing permanently after this election."

Near pointed to her company's recent revival of George Bernard Shaw's "Major Barbara" as an example of how theater can engage political ideas and animate an audience. "I wish more writers today," she said, "were writing about the big ideas.".

Perhaps no musician has inspired more curiosity on this subject than the San Francisco Opera's Scottish music director, who turns 50 next week. In August, Runnicles was quoted in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, "I would really have to think about whether I could stay there [the United States] if Bush wins a second time. The American people can make a mistake once, but if they re-elect him, then they actually want him."

But now, perhaps leery of the controversy that remark generated, Runnicles is declining to talk to the press about the election or its outcome. Asked for comment, he issued a terse one-line statement through the Opera's press department: "I plan to continue my association with this wonderful organization.".

ANDREW SEAN GREER, author

San Franciscan Greer, the author of the best-selling "The Confessions of Max Tivoli" and "The Path of Minor Planets," campaigned for Kerry in swing states. "My immediate reaction to the election was like it was to Sept. 11: What is this world we live in? Everything felt like it had been turned upside down," said Greer by phone from Ocean Beach, where he was taking a breather. "And after that, my friends and I felt like we'd never make art again. But this time, the reaction was totally the opposite. The talk has been more about how important we are; how in Third World dictatorships, they kill the poets first. That tells you something."

He chuckles. "The strange thing was: I was finally able to start writing again on Nov. 3, after being unable to do it for days."

Asked how he thinks the formidable community he belongs to will respond, he said, "I feel like artists, as much as we'd like to think we're communal, are pretty much loners. But I was talking to Julie Orringer and she said, 'surely there's something amazing and brilliant that we can all do together!' We haven't thought of what it is yet, but we'll figure it out."